Every Thorn Has It's Rose
by Lynn Osburn
Summary: WHat happens when the daughters of old enemys meet?


Every Thorn Has It's Rose  
  
Lynn Osburn  
  
(DISCLAMER: Aladdin and Co are as always property of the Disney Co. Rose and Thorn belong to ME!! Anyone who uses them without permission will get a visit from Chroias. Lyrics here are from Melanie C's Northern Star, Kelly Osborne's Shut Up, Nelly Fertato's I'm Like A Bird, Tori Amos's Mr. Zebra,  
Alanis Morissette's Hands Clean. )  
  
They tried to catch a falling star Thinking that she had gone to far She did but kept it hidden well Until she cracked and then she fell  
  
A long gray shape darted quickly through the Citadel corridors. It's ugly face made more wretched by panick. Why had it run off to hunt for mice? Why didn't it do as master had ordered? Master was most certainly not going to be happy about this one.  
  
Mozenrath sat on his throne, eyes closed in a half meditation. His lips were set in a permanent scowl. If anyone had seen the sorcerer in the past eighteen years, they would have seen the changes in him. He had aged. Silvery hair now blended softly with his ebony black, frown lines showed whenever he was particularly upset. Despite this, he was still a strikingly handsome man. Not that anyone was around to notice.  
  
Xerxes came flying in at top speed, his snakelike body whipping through the air. "Mozenrath Mozenrath!" He yelled in an irritating scratchy voice.  
  
Mozenrath cocked one eye open, glaring at his interloping familiar. "Xerxes. Is this at all important or should I just skip asking and kill you now?"  
  
"Very important Master! Thorn is outside!"  
  
Both Mozenrath's eyes jerked open. "Why the hell didn't you say so!" He jumped up and ran out the door. "Damn you Xerxes, weren't you supposed to be watching her?"  
  
"Was watching. Just...stopped watching." Xerxes yelped as he was smacked into the wall.  
  
A young woman stood at the very edge, where the black sands merged with the golden sands. She stood there solemnly, not moving, perfectly balanced. It was as if a magical barrier stood there only she could see. She bit her plump lip, debating. She raised a foot cautiously, and began to set it down on the golden sands.  
  
"Young lady don't you dare set one foot outside my borders!"  
  
She turned around to her father, setting her foot back down on black earth. "I wasn't going to." She professed innocently from under her blue hood. "Just wanted to..."  
  
"To what? Stand there staring at the pretty sand? Don't expect me to buy that little missy." Mozenrath no longer had the ability to tower over his child, she came up to his nose, but he still had the ability to intimidate her. He grabbed her arm and swung her back towards the Citadel. "I've told you a thousand times not to go beyond the border of the black sands."  
  
"And you've told me the reasons a thousand times, but that doesn't make me understand them any more." She grumbled angrily.  
  
"You don't need to understand them damn it! Just obey them!" Mozenrath snapped and started leading her back. "There are dozens of sorcerers out there who would just love to get their hands on you, and I'm not about to let some filthy street magicians get his mits on my child!"  
  
"But I'm more than powerful enough! You say so everyday." She protested angrily. "I could have any fool begging at my feet for mercy if he was stupid enough to attack me."  
  
"That's not the point Thorn!" Mozenrath pushed his daughter inside the Citadel's doors and yanked her robe off. Eighteen years, and it still stunned him how much she looked like him.  
  
Alabaster pale skin, generous lips far better suited to a female face. Her hair resembled whats his had been in it's youth, ebony and richly curled. The only thing different was her eyes. She strange, captivating eyes. One bright stormy blue, the other emerald green. Even Mozenrath found himself unwilling to match her gaze for more than a few minuets.  
  
She gets that from her mothers side. He reminded himself.  
  
"Then what is the point. You tell me I'm the most powerful woman in the world, you tell me every day I'm capable of conquering countries. Well whats the point of conquering countries I've never even seen before?" Thorn snapped back, her lips pouting exactly like her fathers. "What if their not even magical....or just plain not worth the trouble? Don't you think the future queen of the world should know these things?"  
  
Mozenrath ground his teeth together in frustration and clenched his gloved fist. "Look." He said carefully. "I put up with your sarcasm because I know you get that from me. I put up with your wanderlust because I know you get that from your mother. But I'll be damned if I'm going to put up with your disrespect! Go to your room!"  
  
Thorn's jaw hung open in shock. She sat their mouthing wordlessly for a second and then stormed off in a huff. "Fine, there's nothing to do around this bleak desert anyhow!"  
  
"You want something to do?" Mozenrath yelled after her. "Fine! How does copying Necronomicon word for word sound to you?" Her response was an incoherent scream of rage and a slamming of her heavy bedroom door.  
  
Mozenrath rolled his eyes wearily and sank into his throne, a migraine beginning. Xerxes slide silently under his master's hand, allowing his fins to be stroked while Mozenrath tried to think his head ache away.  
  
Can't say she didn't warn me this would happen. Mozenrath thought unhappily. Stupid fey. What good is a warning without a way of counteracting it?  
  
And why should you want to counteract our child Mozenrath?  
  
The powerful voice shook inside the sorcerers head, pushing his own thoughts aside. The scent of grain entered the room, and Mozenrath's undersenses tingled at her approach. Morgan?  
  
Who else? Now then, it seems your having trouble with our dear child? In his head, Mozenrath could hear the thick Scottish accent questioning him.  
  
She's got too much of you in her! That's the problem! Mozenrath said flippantly. You didn't tell me she'd be such a problem."  
  
Fey born children are always a problem. Why else would I give the most ruthless sorcerer in the seven deserts my daughter?  
  
Our daughter, as her features constantly remind me.  
  
A sense of swelling pride gathered up in Mozenrath's head. Yes, she is beautiful isn't she. Truly, I had a hope she'd get my auburn hair and tanned skin, but those flawless pale features are stunning. A giddy laugh. Why do you think I was so enamored of you?  
  
Mozenrath blushed bright red. The memories of his fortnight with the Fey Queen were something that he could not ( and privately never wanted to) forget. I suppose I'm not much of a catch now that I've aged huh? Isn't there some saying about Immortal's taking mortal lovers?  
  
Something like "It never works out"? Yes I believe so. But I never paid much attention to quotes. When your queen of the fairie world, you mate with whom you wish. Morgan sighed and appeared before Mozenrath in all her glory. Few uninebriated persons can say they've seen a fey, fewer still can claim to have spoken to one. And only one out of a few thousand every few hundred years can say they sired a child with one.  
  
Morgan was as flawless as one could be. Despite her endless existence she looked as young a new lilac in the morning. Humans did not have words to describe her physical presence, but to describe her as beautiful would have been an understatement.  
  
Talk with me my mate. You wished for a way to conquer the human world. I presented it too you. Why do you deny her the chance to test herself? Morgan asked patiently.  
  
Mozenrath stopped speaking through his mind. "She's not ready yet. She's powerful all right, but how practical is she? Thorn believes she can just walk right out there have the world begging at her feet in week!"  
  
Sounds like someone else I know. The Fey smiled wickedly.  
  
Mozenrath scoffed. "I was young and foolish."  
  
More like power mad and over zealous, but continue.  
  
"I don't have enough confidence in her. I'm past the point of conquest and dominance. It's hard to subjugate the masses when your white haired and wrinkled." Mozenrath spoke critically.  
  
Morgan shook her head. I have seen monarch thrice your age hold their populations with an iron grip none dared to question. Your gauntlet has kept you young for many a year.  
  
Mozenrath smiled, knowing that he was being flirted with. "My powers are not what they used to be. Even if they were, Aladdin still lives, and is a few years younger than I am. Even in my prime, he was difficult."  
  
Morgan sighed. Your power is just as great as it ever was Mozenrath. Methinks your fear lies not in Thorns capability, but in her personal being. You are worried for our daughter Mozenrath.  
  
Mozenrath sat straight up in his seat. "Well someone has to worry about her. You only come by every blue moon or so. And that's if your not out carousing with Puck and Merlin!"  
  
Morgan chuckled. Have it your way luv. How goes her training?  
  
"Well enough. She's more powerful than I imagined, but she lacks focus! Every time I sit her down to teach I catch her day dreaming. Damn attention deficits disorder."  
  
She can't help it. It's part of...  
  
"Her nature." Mozenrath finished. "EVERTHING is part of her nature. Her inability to concentrate, her desire to roam..."  
  
Her massive amounts of power, her healing potential..." Morgan shook her head. For a man who has been handed his dream, you whine like a mule. Before Mozenrath could protest, Morgan lifted herself from the chair and shook out her wings. I must return to Avalon. Titania is holding Summer Solstice and I am expected to attend. With that the Fey queen kissed Mozenrath and disappeared.  
  
You say I should do it differently I don't necessarily agree Stand up, sit down, be nice Did you hear me ask for your advise?  
  
"Isobel Allie Rose!" Sultana Jasmine stood outside her eldest daughters room, holding a struggling bundle in her arms. "Rose you come out here right this second young lady!" The door cracked open, allowing Jasmine to see the figure of her child. She pushed the door all the way and slammed it behind her, tapping her foot impatiently.  
  
Sitting on the balcony as if nothing had happened was a young woman who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen. She was dressed in a wild array of street and royal cloths as she sketched something with a sharpened bit of charcoal and a papyrus scroll. Her fingers worked across the papyrus with precision as she occasionally glanced over the terrace and into the garden. She didn't even seem to notice her mothers presence until she was satisfied with her drawing and set down the charcoal bit.  
  
"Oh! Hi mum." Rose said cheerily, letting her dark onyx eyes connect with her mothers. To anyone who had just met the first born princess of Agrabah, it would have stunned them how much she looked like her father. She carried Aladdin's firm face shape and wild hair cut. In most cases it was unthinkable for the Crown princess to cut her hair so short, but Isobel Allie Rose was know for doing the unthinkable simply because of that. She had her mother's eye shape, but the pupils and iris were a deep, impenetrable black.  
  
Jasmine, however, was not affected. "Don't you 'oh hi mum' me! Explain this!" Jasmine opened the bundle before her daughter, exposing a curled up ball of fluff. After a few seconds, the puff ball lifted it's head to show off a sharp, raptorial beak leading up to intelligent amber eyes.  
  
Rose grinned enthusiastically. "It finally came!" She tossed the drawing tablet aside and grabbed the fluff ball from her mother. "Oh aren't you the cutest little thing!" she nuzzled the animals as it screeched and thrilled in a happy tone.  
  
"Care to explain exactly what that 'thing' is?" Came Aladdin's voice from the doorway. The hero had aged gracefully, and looked a bit more like his father every day. His untamable black hair had been styled with two gray streaks. He even had a beard and mustache combination.  
  
Rose looked up at her father, still cuddling the animal. "It's a gryphon. I ordered one from Sorcery Headquarters over three months ago but none of the mothers had any fledglings ready for adoptions."  
  
"A gryphon?" Aladdin said, keeping amazingly calm despite the fact that his daughter was now in possession of one of the most dangerous animals on earth.  
  
"Oh don't worry dad. See they breed these to be kind of a miniature version of the flesh rending ones. He won't get much bigger than Rajah." Rose said, apparently unconcerned of what a gryphon of ANY size could do.  
  
"And what do you mean you ordered it from Sorcery Headquarters?" Jasmine said, deciding that if Aladdin was going to take on problem, she may as well deal with the other. "Your father and I expressly forbad you to deal with those......... those......... people!"  
  
"I'm going to have to deal with them sooner or later mom. Besides, I didn't really deal with them. Alrea did." Rose said as she tried to hold the struggling fledgling gryphon still. It was positively ecstatic to be in it's new surroundings and desperate to play a kittenish game of search and destroy.  
  
"Alrea? Saidira's boy?" Aladdin sighed and shook his head. "I thought I told you not to go into that district of town. If you want to have fun with your friends you know they can visit you here any time they want."  
  
"And hang around with about a hundred court nobles who's noses are so high in the air they can't smell their own sh........."  
  
"Rose!" Jasmine stopped her daughter short. It didn't matter that she had once felt exactly the same was about the self important high born folk who littered the palace grounds. Having to deal with such people on a day to day basis tended to steel over ones prejudices.  
  
"They insult my friends constantly mom! Last time I brought Alrea and Majah to a palace banquet they were humiliated. They had to sit there and endure all those thinly veiled insults about their 'low birth'. Never mind half of them are so inbred their dough faced and cross eyed." Rose pulled her new pet out of the couch before it could sink it's miniature claws into the silk.  
  
"Then go down to the bazaar, where the guards can keep an eye on you." Aladdin said softly. "But that isn't the point. Rose you have got to understand........."  
  
"Deal with sorcerers in any fashion in dangerous." Jasmine interjected. "Rose baby, we know you were born with special gifts. We also know that it's a side affect from all the magical spells your father and I took over the years protecting the seven deserts."  
  
"What your mother is trying delicately to say is that any sorcerer out there would give his right hand to have you under his power. You have to be very careful about who you trust Rose." Aladdin hated to put this to his daughter. When she had been born, and Genie had confirmed it, they knew it was going to mean protecting their eldest child for life.  
  
We can't let associate with anyone we don't trust, anyone we don't know. Every enemy we've made through out the years is a potential threat to her life. But to pen their child up like this? She couldn't even go out shopping without the royal guard lurking somewhere near by. They hated to do this. We never would have met if Jasmine hadn't disobeyed the Law and snuck from the palace.  
  
And the presence of the baby gryphon was proof enough that young Rose possessed far too much of her mothers traits.  
  
"You keep talking to me like I'm some sort of idiot. I went through Alrea to get the gryphon, because Sadira is already in the Sorcery Archive records. And I even paid in common denari instead of gold so that it would look like Alrea had been saving up for years to get his own familiar." The princess lifted her gryphon under the arms so that he was stretched out. "Well, at least I got a female. Males get all weird during mating season."  
  
Jasmine shook her head and looked at Aladdin for help. Rose was adept at avoiding issues she didn't want to discuss as if they simply didn't exist for her. "Rose, all we're saying is to be........."  
  
"Careful. Right, got cha." Rose picked up her gryphon and pointed it's adorable, puffed face to her parents. "So, can I keep her?"  
  
Aladdin shrugged helplessly. "We can't return her, no wizard in their right mind would return a gryphon without being investigated."  
  
Jasmine threw up her hands. "Very well, but I expect you to clean up after her. And when I say you Rose I mean you, not the servants, not your siblings, you. Every feather puff, every fur ball, every little present she leaves after meal times."  
  
Rose's bright onyx eyes lit up in joy. "Thank you so much." She rushed forward and hugged her mother, still clutching a squawking, energetic female gryphon in her arms. Before they could say anything more, she had disappeared out the door to show off her prize.  
  
"You know Jasmine, in ten minuets we're going to have all three of them in here, each one begging for their own pet." Aladdin chuckled as he took his wife's hand.  
  
"We'll get them pets, but of a less destructive nature." Jasmine sighed. "Maybe like a tiger or wolf cub."  
  
Aladdin laughed as they walked out the door. As predicted, they were met with three irate royal children, each one demanding animals of their own.  
  
I'm like a bird I only fly away I don't know where my soul is. I don't know where my home is  
  
Thorn paced her bedroom back and forth, thoroughly disgusted with the situation. "This just positively sucks!" she flopped down on her bed, burying her face in the silky pillows. "Not only does he not trust me to take care of myself he doesn't trust me to stay in my room." She had stormed over to the door earlier, determined that if her father was going to confine her to the Citadel, she was at least going to have the satisfaction of giving him an ear full.  
  
Unfortunately, he had magically locked the door.  
  
Thorn pushed open the windows to her balcony, glad her father had allowed her that luxury. She wandered out into the perpetual night air, staring up at the moon. "I have got to get the hell out of here."  
  
She headed back into her bedroom, opening up her wardrobe and closet. If father doesn't think I'm competent enough to be out on my own, I'll just have to prove it to him. Thorn grinned as she pulled out her long black cape. I'll conquer my own damn city! Show him how it's done.  
  
Thorn debated for a moment. But who to conquer. She didn't exactly need a world domination plot, just a simple campaign. Not Agrabah, that's the first place daddy would look for me. Nothing directly surrounding the Black Sands. It'd have to be somewhere he would never think to find me. It simply won't do if my father bursts in right when I'm usurping the throne. It tends to undermine ones authority when their sentenced to their room.  
  
She opened up a drawer on her vanity, pulling out a large map of the seven deserts and laying it flat on her bed. "Let's see, Quirkistan would be good, but I'd have to find a way to keep that royal brat in a good mood or dislodge his control over the weather system. Too much of a pain."  
  
She flipped the map over, looking through the larger kingdoms. "Odiferous, hell no! Getzistan. Now there is a tempting conquest. Good commerce, rich economy, if I do things right and keep the casinos in business people probably won't even raise a fuss."  
  
Thorn chuckled all too much like her father. Perfect!  
  
"A diplomatic mission?"  
  
Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing. She sat in her chair at the family table, ignoring the antics of her brothers and sisters starting a food fight at the other end. Her baby gryphon, now dubbed Tuta, squeaked joyously, wanting to join the fun.  
  
Jasmine nodded and took Aladdin's hands. "Yes. Your father and I discussed it last night. We've been keeping you cooped up in here for eighteen years, no wonder you've been getting restless." She sighed wistfully, remembering her own youth. "One of our closest allies has lost their sultan, and his nephew has been put on the throne since there was no heir."  
  
"So we're sending you on a diplomatic mission as a royal envoy of Agrabah. Nothing overly important, settle some trade routs, assure them of our continued alliance. Just little things here and there." Aladdin smiled at his daughter. "More of less just make a statement by being there. Play the crown princess of Agrabah to your hearts content." What Aladdin wasn't saying out loud was left implied. Aside from making an appearance at court functions and settling a few disputes, Rose would have all the time in the world to wander around and discover.  
  
Plus, as a foreign envoy, they'll have guards watching out for here twenty- four seven. Aladdin smiled.  
  
Rose almost did a back flip. Instead she hugged Tuta so close the gryphon squealed. "Thank you! Oh thank you so much!" She stood up to go pack.  
  
"Remember..." Jasmine said suddenly, stopping her daughter in her tracks. "Your there to uphold Agrabah's honor. Which means..."  
  
"No magical experiments." Rose sighed.  
  
"And?" Aladdin said.  
  
"No contact with sorcerers."  
  
"And!" Both parents insisted.  
  
Rose's cheeks turned bright red as she mumbled. "No boys."  
  
"Which is more your fathers rule than mine but..." Jasmine smiled.  
  
Rose nodded. "Thank you mom, dad. And don't worry, everything going to be fine." As she turned to leave, Rose suddenly seemed to think of something and turned back to her parents. "By the way, who am I playing diplomat to?"  
  
Aladdin took out a small sheet of paper and read it off. "Getzistan."  
  
Hello Mr. Zebra Can I have your sweater Cause it's cold cold cold In my hole hole hole Gratitude is strychnine Sometimes she's a friend of mine With her gigantic whirlpool That will blow your mind  
  
Rose sighed as she leaned against the tackily decorated wall of the Getzistan palace. If I see one more bright color I think I'm gonna puke. Actually, she was being ungrateful, and she knew it. The city itself was fun enough. Already she'd managed to ditch her guards at night and go partying in disguise. Already she was becoming quite the clubber. Or at least Keira is. She smiled.  
  
Of course she hadn't been stupid enough to use her real name. She hadn't even taken a chance that she would be recognized. A little glamour spell and she had become the blond haired, gray eyed Keira, daughter of a well to do trades man who was stopping to try his luck in the gambling capitol of the seven desert.  
  
The only sad part was she'd have to rid herself of some of the clothing she'd collected. One look at those sequined bits of cloth and her father would know for certain his daughter hadn't been spending all her time in the palace revelries.  
  
Not that I haven't been present for every little party Sultan Rotini has thrown. The problem wasn't the Sultan. He was overjoyed to have the daughter of the famous Aladdin and Jasmine in his court. So were his six wives, and his vizier, and his nobles, and their families. The moment it was rumored that the daughter of the great hero Aladdin was in their midst, she'd been corned by a dozen or more of the vultures, eager to hear stories of her parent's heroic feats.  
  
There's nothing I can tell them they can't read in any book. I love them both dearly, but sometimes it's so difficult to be their daughter. People didn't just expect her to repeat the stories, to some extent they expected her to personify it. As if she had been there for every adventure, fighting double headed Cyclopes and evil sorcerers right alongside her famous parents.  
  
A young man with silks from his toes to his nose walked up and tapped her, interrupting her thoughts. "Madam." He said, bowing till his oversized shirt ruffles swept the floor. "May I have the honor of dancing with the crown princess of Agrabah?"  
  
Another annoyance. And all this time I thought it'd be so nice to have a suitor or two. Now she'd had more than her fill of them. However, by the looks of his medals, this was some high ranking noble, more likely to start a war over a rejected dance invitation than simply take no for an answer. Rose smiled the same way she did when convincing her parents, and took his hand, allowing him to pull her onto the dance floor.  
  
As they bowed to one another, Rose caught the sight of someone in a dark blue dress with gold detail. She had no clue why it caught her attention, but as the noble took her hand and began to dance, she kept searching the through the crowd, trying to see the deep, midnight-blue material again.  
  
It wasn't until the end of the dance, when she faked being tired and went to relax on a bench, that she saw a woman about her age leaning against a pillar carelessly. She was staring straight out into the crowd with a half interested smirk on her face. Thick black hair curled all around her head and down to her waist. Something was strange about her eyes, but from this distance Rose couldn't tell.  
  
She stood there for a few moments, arms crossed with that odd smile on her face. Something about this girls very presence irked Rose's curiosity. But as she tried to move closer, the woman vanished from sight. Something isn't right. Rose felt a shiver go up her spine. No one just vanished into thin air.  
  
Except for the obvious.  
  
Rose snuck off to a corner and whispered a small incantation. Sure enough, the mana level in the room had heightened immensely since the appearance of the blue robed woman.  
  
But that's no reason to get excited. Noble wizards aren't uncommon. She could very well be there for the same reason Rose was, to assure a new sultan of allies. Look at yourself, not bad enough everyone else expects you to be a hero, now your trying to concoct your own adventures. Rose shook her head and chuckled. "I'm getting to be too much like my father."  
  
That's when the hair on the back of Roses neck stood on end.  
  
The great hall was lit by dozens of large torches, casting a charming glow over the scene. Suddenly the entire room was cast in an eerie glow as the burning red flamed changed to blue and green. Wind snapped through the curtains angrily as shadows grew on the walls. Several of the women screamed as something in the dark flames moved. Tiny beings sprang from the flames, cackling gleefully at their release. They buzzed through the hall in a swarm of destruction, knocking over tables, cramming food down the guests throats till they choked.  
  
Rose gasped as one of them turned at looked at her, eyeing the gold jewelry on her neck. It attacked, latching onto her dress with claws as sharp as a cats and ripping at her necklace. Rose smacked the creature away, knocking it into a clay pitcher of wine. To her surprise, the thing screeched and clawed at the bowl, beady little eyes desperate for help.  
  
Rose watched as the thing slowly dissolved in the wine, leaving a murky black color to the liquid. Without thinking Rose picked up a large bowl full of rich red alcohol and tossed it onto a cloud of them, encouraged by their shrieks and howls. "Get wine!" she yelled to the panicking nobility. "Get wine, it kills them!"  
  
A few of them listened, dumping their glasses on the rampaging devils. They screamed and began pulling back, taking the bits of gold and torn silks in their claws and diving back into the torches. Immediately the guards extinguished the flames with wine jugs. People began to pick themselves up and pull the spoiled food from their clothing.  
  
The man who had danced with Rose wiped a portion of pasta sauce from his nose. "This is highly inexcusable! What the devil were those things?"  
  
"Pixies." Rose said in her best authority voice. "Little mischief spirits that usually stay in the astral world. It takes a sorcerer of high caliber to summon them."  
  
"I'll take that as a compliment."  
  
Rose gasped as she looked up into a swirling mist of green and white. The mists separated, letting a stream of light into the darkened room. As her eyes adjusted, the princess could make out a female figure lounging comfortably on a sofa. "Who...who are you?"  
  
The figure looked up at her with mismatched eyes. "I'm assuming your of some authority here, otherwise you'd have the courtesy not to speak." She stood, showing herself to be impressively tall. She stepped down from the mists and strode over to Rose, an indulgent smirk on her face. "Now? Who might you be?"  
  
Rose didn't even have to crane her neck to see eye to eye with the woman. She was beautiful, almost unearthly beautiful. Pale white skin without a single flaw, thick black hair that fell to her waist, and of course, those eerie mismatched eyes. It was unnerving to have that gaze on her and Rose back up a step. "I am Crown Princess Isobel Allie Rose of Agrabah!" She said, summoning her most authoritative voice.  
  
"Agrabah...?" The woman's looked turned smug. "Oh yes that speck of a city that used to give my father so much heart ache." She chuckled. "Well little princess you should be happy to know that I've set my sites a bit higher than your little sand dune of a town. SO if you'll kindly sit down..." Rose gulped as the sorceress's hands glowed green and black. "I won't have to destroy you."  
  
Rose blocked herself as the magical blast knocked her to the side. The woman laughed and walked smoothly up to the throne, people clearing a path for her automatically. She approached the new Sultan, hands blazing with green and black fire.  
  
She leaned over, resting her hand on the throne arm and said. "Excuse me but, your in my seat."  
  
Before Sultan Rotini could even move, a stream of white and red hit the woman full force, knocking her from the throne and over the parapet. All eyes turned in the direction of the blast and saw with shock the princess of Agrabah, hands glowing with power, getting ready for a fight.  
  
She didn't have to wait long. The sorceress jumped back in the window, the haughty smile gone. "Well...that's interesting." She said through gritted teeth. "My father never mentioned the Aladdin family line having powers!" She launched her magic with the final word, slamming Rose into the banquet table.  
  
"Your father?" Rose slid to a stop and leapt from the table, making an ungraceful trip on her long gown.  
  
"Oh lovely landing dear." Came the taunting voice as another blast of magic headed her way. Rose grabbed a corner of her dress and ripped it to hip length, dodging just before the table was ripped apart.  
  
"Who's your father?" Rose demanded, preparing her own blast. "Did he send you to attack Getzistan?"  
  
"No one sends me to attack anything!" The woman raised her hands but before her power could fly Rose took the offensive. She plowed her magic straight at the mismatched eyes.  
  
"So you came of your own accord?" Rose ran over to where the wizardess had fallen only to find she wasn't there. "What the...ahhh!" Rose gasped as arms wrapped around her waist and throat, pulling her from the ground.  
  
"Keep my seat warm Rotini! I'll be right back!" Rose stared up into the blue and green iris's as she wall pulled into the air and above the rooftops. "You know it's very rude to interrupt someone's conquest."  
  
"Forgive my atrocious manners." Rose spat sarcastically as the woman's grip in her neck tightened. "I am half street rat you know."  
  
"I've heard." She responded.  
  
"Isn't it equally rude not to introduce yourself?" Rose challenged as she built up her strength, waiting for a chance."  
  
"Oh forgive me!" To Rose's surprise, she felt the grip loosen. Immediately she caught herself, allowing the levitation spell to take hold.  
  
The woman bowed elegantly. "My birth name is Thorn. I'm afraid we don't have such official titles as princess where I come from, but you may consider me the same rank."  
  
"Don't sorcerers consider themselves a rank of their own?" Rose asked.  
  
"We do. But they don't have a word for 'crown royal woman who just so happens to practice sorcery'. So I just have to make do with what the language provides." Thorn smiled and curled her fingers, drawing up clouds to sit on. "Now, if you wouldn't mind explaining how a half breed princess has magic..."  
  
"I'd be careful with the word half breed." Rose said angrily. "Maybe you don't know it where your from...but if you'd been born among the common folk, those eyes would be a death sentence." What she said was true enough, the poor were superstitious in many ways, and most believed that any abnormality in a child meant it was possessed by demons and left it in the desert to die.  
  
Thorn's brow darkened. "I've herd." She murmured softly, casting her head down in what looked like shame. She raised her head just as quickly however, staring deep into Rose's eyes.  
  
Rose didn't give herself time to feel guilty. "Where are you from?" she demanded. "And why are you attacking Getzistan?"  
  
"Now that answer should be obvious enough." Thorn smirked. "Getzistan is a thriving metropolis with a neophyte sultan on the throne. Easy enough to have a coup without anyone looking away from their dice. But as far as my home...ever hear of the Citadel?"  
  
Rose damn near lost her spell. "The Citadel!?" No, it's impossible! All her childhood, her favorite stories had been the ones of her father and mothers defeat of the powerful necromancer Mozenrath. "But...that can't be, your barley older than I am!"  
  
"And what does that have to with anything?" Thorn raised her eyebrow. "Now if you'd be so kind as to answer my question. How does Aladdin's child end up with so much power?"  
  
"Side effect." Rose said shortly.  
  
"Oh I see. One too many hits with a power bolt." Thorn shrugged. "Well, I can say with honesty it's been a pleasure meeting you Rose." Thorn commented as she stood and brushed imaginary dust from her dark blue dress. "Must admit, I was hoping not to kill anyone in this conquest but..." Rose barley managed to throw her magical shield up before a barrage of green and black fire enveloped her.  
  
"Hope you understand luv." Thorn called through the mana melee. "I can't leave you lying around to defeat me later. That always seems to be what does a good tyrant in." If it weren't for your maturity None of this would have happened If you weren't so wise beyond your years I would have been able to control myself  
  
Aladdin's jaw dropped as Mozenrath strode up the steps, a look of brazen defiance barley masking worry on his features. He was, in fact, amazed to see the sorcerer still alive. It had been years since there'd been any activity in the black sands. He saw the guards coming in out of the corner of his eyes and raised a hand to stop them. "What do you want Mozenrath?" he asked quickly.  
  
"My daughter!" the sorcerer practically shouted.  
  
Aladdin felt his jaw hit the floor. He looked over at Jasmine, but the queen had an equally surprised look on her face. "Your...what?"  
  
Mozenrath's back stiffened. "My daughter! I've searched every enemy I've ever had except you and you're the only one left who could have taken her!" There was an edge of panick, no desperation to his voice.  
  
"You...have a...daughter?" Jasmine said, finally catching up.  
  
Mozenrath went lax suddenly. He looked confused for a moment, then laughed suddenly. "Yes. I suppose it was irrational of me to have thought you would resort to kidnapping Aladdin." He crossed his arms in the ever arrogant style of his youth. "Of course, I thought she would have come here first, wanting to finish what I never did."  
  
"Do you think you can stop talking to yourself long enough to explain?" Aladdin snapped. A hundred thoughts went through the hero's head. Where are the children? Are they safe? Can Rasoul get them out of here if he has too? And shadowing that, he privately wondered if the sorcerer had lost his sanity completely.  
  
Mozenrath looked up, noticing Aladdin for a second time. "It's none of your business really." He said smoothly, as though he had come to Agrabah on a daily stroll. "Sorry to have taken up your time." He said and turned to leave.  
  
"DADDY!"  
  
The terrified yell called every ones attention, including Mozenrath's, to the vision portal that had just opened in mid air. The sorcerer's eyebrow arched as he caught sight of someone greatly resembling Aladdin in it. "Hello." He whispered to himself.  
  
"Isobel Allie Rose!" Jasmine stood up in one swift movement from the throne. "I thought I told you not to use magic while you were in Getzistan! When you get home I swear your going to be grounded for a mon..."  
  
Rose's scream stopped her mother's rant. The royal parents watched in horror as a bolt of green and black power threw their child down on a rooftop. "Rose!" Aladdin yelled.  
  
The princess jumped up almost as soon as she'd hit the building. Her eyes were turning bright white as he hands glowed with power. "That is it!" She yelled and launched a barrage of energy at her attacker.  
  
That's when Mozenrath heard a voice familiar to his own ears. "You damn little palace punk!"  
  
Mozenrath watched dumbfounded as his daughter blocked the attack of Rose and began gathering energy to attack again. "Thorn! What in the seven hells do you think your doing!"  
  
Aladdin spun around to the sorcerer. "You know that girl?'  
  
"That's my daughter!" Mozenrath sputtered.  
  
Jasmine looked right about to kill the wizard then and there. "Whats she doing attacking my baby girl?"  
  
Rose's face suddenly reappeared. "She's trying to take over Getzistan that's what she's doing!"  
  
Aladdin and Jasmine turned their eyes to Mozenrath. "Now don't give me that look! I told her to stay in her bedroom!"  
  
"Obviously she didn't listen!" Rose screamed as the green-black fire engulfed her.  
  
"My baby!" Jasmine bit her lip.  
  
"Mozenrath take up to Getzistan!" Aladdin ordered.  
  
Mozenrath's face snapped up to Aladdin's. "How dare you give me an order street rat!"  
  
Suddenly, Rose's gold and white power cut through the dark energy and shot towards Thorn. The young sorceress screamed out as it gained on her.  
  
"Thorn!" Mozenrath's gauntlet flared brightly, engulfing both himself and the royal parents in it's portal.  
  
Thorn gasped in terror as the white magic hurdled forward. Without enough time to react, she threw up her hands in defense. The bright light blinded her for an instant.  
  
A familiar vibration of magic flashed in front of her and the brightness dimmed down. Thorn opened her eyes and saw the deep ebony black cape of her father in front of her. "Daddy?" she asked.  
  
The white light died suddenly as Aladdin and Jasmine appeared besides their daughter. "Rose baby are you okay?"  
  
"Did she hurt you? How many fingers can you see?" Aladdin held up three fingers in front of his daughters eyes.  
  
"Dad I'm fine." Rose said jokingly as she stood and winced.  
  
Mozenrath spun around to Thorn. "How dare you? After I expressly forbid you from leaving the land of the Black Sands! After I told you to go to your room!"  
  
"Yeah but you didn't tell me for how long." Thorn argued.  
  
Mozenrath's face went bright red as he raised his hands, magic sparking between them angrily. "Auuuuurgh!" he yelled out of no where. "Just just ...just auuuuurgh!"  
  
Rose looked up at Thorn, the same sorceress who had come within seconds of destroying her life was now standing, hands behind her back, a cheeky grin on her face as she blushed. She looked at the tall, aristocratically handsome man hovering over her, ranting loudly. "Is...is that...?"  
  
Aladdin turned his head and looked at the necromancer. "Yes. That's Mozenrath."  
  
"Is that his daughter?" Jasmine shaded her eyes and looked up at Thorn. "She's..."  
  
"Too much like her father for comfort." Aladdin finished. But he knew what his beloved was thinking. She was pretty. Very pretty.  
  
Mozenrath grabbed his daughters wrist. "We are going home right now! And if you think I drilled you on magic before! Your arms going to fall off from all the writing you'll be doing. Your grounded!"  
  
To Be Continued... 


End file.
